Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
by SS Killroze
Summary: <html><head></head>We start off this Sonic the Hedgehog (AU) with Sonic when he was young, training alongside his brother, Shadow. Shadow is naturally the strongest of the two and reaps high rewards for it. Sonic have to show that he is strong enough to surpass his brother but is he strong enough? Meanwhile evil is brewing and those evil eyes are hard set on Shadow.(contains romance later on) REVIEW!</html>
1. Chapter 1

A quick left jab, a strong right jab, both attacks followed by a mean left elbow.

Sonic fell hard once again to the thick mat onto his back as his attacker loomed over him with his usual scowl that seems to be plastered to his face. Sonic could taste a little bit of blood this time. This has got to be the fifth time he has been knocked down in this practice bout.

"Oh get up already Sonic…" Shadow said as he gently kicked at Sonic's foot, he unfolded his arms and repositioned as Sonic shook his head and finally stood back up, wiping his mouth with his thumb and putting his dukes back up. He knew he had to keep fighting, he can't let up, especially not now. Sonic bounced lightly on his feet and went in for another attack to which Shadow easily dodged.

"Oh come on, you're not even trying anymore." Shadow said, disappointed in his mock opponent. Shadow grabbed his arm and twisted it behind Sonic's back before forcing him to the ground with Shadow's bare foot on his back. Shadow sighed disapprovingly and released him, Sonic laid there for a second just keeping his eyes closed, _why am I not strong enough_; he knew that _Master,_the head teacher in martial arts, was watching him, probably just as disappointed in him as Shadow was.

And he was right to be nervous, this is the third week in a row he haven't shown any growth in combat skill, contrary to Shadow who have exceeded his class and is expected to soon graduate and spar against the middle level students.

This is the School of Extraordinary Students branch of the G.U.N (Guardian Units of Nations) organization of the mighty, military dictatorship that is the land named Mobius. The imperial land is the largest in power of the lands adjacent to it: Arch City and Rodzaj, each having their own Schools of Extraordinary Students.

Mobius is ruled over by a single general, General Robotnik, and is considered to be the most ruthless general in history of the lands, conquering small nations on its borders and annexing new cities from other nations using bribes and sometimes force; the bribes usually work since no nation wants to tangle with Mobius. General Robotnik has lightened his monthly threat of annexing a new nation into its already massive land to much peaceful means; be it a ruse or not, the other surrounding nations were happy to hear that.

The School of Extraordinary Students was established when General Robotnik realized that with their abnormally high rate of chaos related, genetic mutants that were being born they could be put to use as super Soldiers against the other nations if needed; the Arch City and Rodzaj Generals; Nega and Kintobor respectfully, copied Mobius and started their own schools.

The school registers and enrolls children or teenagers that possess supernatural abilities such as super speed; which is dominate in the genetic mutations, super strength; of which ranges from minor super strength to major super strength, and other powers like telekinesis, pyrokinesis, etc- whatever power that can get Mobius ahead on top. Albeit the students and parents of this generation of Extraordinary Students don't know the true incentive of the Government considering the students of the school, everyone thinks this is just for the students to learn and enhance their powers, no one expects them to be used in actual military affairs.

The school is split up in three main levels: Elemental, Median, and Great. The Elemental students are usually children ages 10-13, Median are ages 14-16, and finally Great class students are usually ages 17-18. However despite the average ages, any student can excel into the class over them if they show the physical and mental prowess to advance to the next level. Shadow right now is 14 years old but his level coefficient is Median level which means he graduates. At the end of each school year there is a ceremony that promotes students that are advance enough to be put into a higher class, the skills that you've learned can either promote you or you can fail and be retained if you didn't improve at all or by little.

Sonic on the other hand lay on the mat with apprehension and nervousness clouding his heart along with sadness that he lost yet another practice battle. He could hear the sound of bare feet walking across the mat towards him at a slow pace. The person finally reached Sonic and he was prodded softly by a wooden stick on his leg. Sonic slowly looked up to see Master was standing above him with a displeased look upon his face.

"Get up Sonic." The old man said curtly, to which Sonic obeyed without him having to tell him twice. Sonic stood up and looked at him before casting his eyes back to his feet.

"Master Waizu… I'm trying the best I can…" Sonic started shyly, ashamed of himself, he peeked to the side at the students who were all looking at him, of the bunch he can pick out Shadow, Knuckles, and Silver; to name a few, were looking at him. Suddenly Sonic felt the uncomfortable heat of embarrassment crawl up his spine and rested in his face. His ears dropped as a red blush covered his peach colored muzzle.

Master Waizu is an elder monkey who teaches the students of his dojo. All students must go through physical training and combat training as well as rudimentary math and reading comprehension skills and science knowledge as a student of the School of Extraordinary Students.

The master said nothing and only stared down at Sonic with disappointment in his eyes and a tight, wrinkled frown upon his face.

Sonic knew what that look meant; Sonic felt frustration build up inside of him but of course he couldn't do anything about it. Sonic respectfully bowed and kept his low as he walked briskly and shyly towards the students that sat on the floor to pick up his stuff then he quickly walked out of the dojo as fast he could. As soon as he left the wooden stairs of the big, traditional looking building he took off as fast as he could towards home, tears streaming the whole time.

Sonic ran through the streets at top speed, alarming pedestrians and billowing up lady's skirts up with the blazing fast wind he stirred up; usually he'll be tempted to do it to just catch a quick peek at some panties but today, he wasn't in the mood. Sonic continued to run with his gifted speed until he reached a small neighborhood in the hills that overlooked the massive city.

Sonic approached a small traditional house and blazed through the door then blared down straight into his room on the far end of the house. He slammed closed then locked his door before diving into his pillow to let his emotions out into the soft safe haven that is his pillow.

Not too long after there was a small knock on the wooden door. "Sonic? Honey?" Sonic turned over clutching the pillow to his face, ignoring the knock and his mother's calm voice.

"Please open up Sonic… What's going on?" he heard his mother call out through the door to which Sonic again ignored her polite coaxing. Through the door he heard her sigh in worry until then some heavy footsteps along with the mechanical whirring of hydraulics approached the door.

"Jules, the door please." His mother requested politely. A soft whirling sound followed immediately by a series of clicking actuators was heard. _Really pops? Can't I get some peace without you guys worrying your heads off?_ Just then the door was yanked out of the doorway leaving only the hinges.

Sonic huffed in frustration and tried to speed past them but his mother caught him with agile hands. She spun with him from his momentum and then landed sitting down on his bed. Sonic held a pouting face and tried to ignore his mom looking down at him and his robot father looking at him worriedly from the doorway with the door knob still in hand.

"Huh? How you catch me?" Sonic said surprised.

She smiled, "How you think I caught your father?" She looked over to him and Jules chuckled heartily. She then looked back down at her child with sympathetic, soft blue eyes. Her motherly vibe soothed Sonic's frustrated mind and loosened him up a little.

"Sonic, what's going on…" His mother held him tighter in her arms.

"Nothing…" he said stubbornly, trying to stop the tears coming back.

"Sonic do you want to be tickled…?" She threatened him then lightly tickling his plump, exposed belly trying to get him to smile, which it worked, but only for a second for his frown returned to his muzzle.

"I suck fighting, I suck at mental balance and Master Waizu keeps pairing me with Shadow and he keeps beating me and…" Sonic whined, "I just wanna go back to normal school!"

"Oh is this all the pouty faces are about? Sonic, you're only 13, give it time and you'll be the absolute best out of them all!" She said confidently, trying to raise his spirits.

"But Shadow is advancing already! No doubt he's going to middle level already; I can see how Master Waizu looks at him! We were supposed to go together…"

"Your brother is just an early bloomer is all, just practice, practice, practice and you'll win, win, win every time honey." She smiled at him and booped him playfully on the nose.

Sonic smiled briefly; "Will I even becomes as good as dad?" he smiled towards his father with a challenging smirk. His dad returned the smirk and put the door down.

"Oh so you want some of this, huh son?" he grabbed Sonic from his wife's hands and grappled him on the floor and the two tussled playfully, knocking down toys and collectives from shelves and toppling a trashcan.

After a couple of minutes Sonic had his dad pinned down with a triumphant look on his young face. "Ugh! I don't know Bernadette, he just might be stronger than me already!" he said smiling up proudly at her to which she beamed at them both. She loves her two strong boys very much and it showed as plain as day on her face.

/-/ **Later that night**/-/

Sonic and Shadow lay in their respective sides of their rooms; Sonic's side was painted blue while Shadow's was red, both were suppose to be asleep for they have class early in the morning. But Sonic can't get a wink of sleep, he was thinking too hard on how to improve, how to get better, sure he will have to do it alone but… wait, what if he gets someone to help him?

Sonic laid on his side looking out the window to the full moon that rode the sky to the top. His eyes reflected the bright moon's rays as he thought about everything that had happened today. He wanted to become better, stronger, faster; the best in the class as his mother had said today, and he has an idea on how to accomplish that.

"Hey Shadow…"

A few seconds later a tired voice of Shadow's rang out from his side of the room. "Yeah?"

Sonic pushed through his pride and in a few seconds he spoke again. "Congrats on your promotion, bro. I heard that Master was gonna promote you early…"

Shadow rolled his eyes, he kind of knew where this was heading; more tears.

"Thanks. You know you'll get there too, soon."

"Yeah… hey, do you think you can train me… you know when you're all Median level… you know." Sonic asked sort of bashfully, he scratched behind his head nervously as he awaited his brother's response.

Shadow was taken aback from his proposal. He thought for a minute or two about it then he peeked over his shoulder at Sonic who was now looking at him with a determined sparkle in his eyes. Sonic patiently awaited his brother's answer with tensed nerves and clinched, determined fists.

"Sure, no problem bro." Shadow said, then turning back to the wall to go back to sleep.

Sonic didn't reply back for he heard all he wanted to hear. He smiled, thinking of how much further he's gonna get now that Shadow is gonna teach him all he knew. Sonic beamed while again looking out at the beautiful, shining moon above. His eyes finally succumbed to the sleepiness that slowly gripped him.

/-/-/**Later that year at the promotion ceremonies**/-/-/

"**Shade the Echidna"** the announcer stated as the female in question rose up from her seat cushion on the floor and walked up to the raised floor platform where a large array of beautiful flowers, foreign and native decorated the stage along with small plants and small trees arranged neatly on the stage. Important official figures and teachers stood in a line on the stage with General Robotnik at the center.

Shade has long, light orange dreadlocks with a mysterious air about her. She had on a tight fitting, all black tactical uniform on. Rumor has it that she is one of the strongest students in the elemental class.

"**Level Median; you are now promoted to level Great for your impeccable spy and martial art skills."**

Master Waizu was standing beside the announcer and smiled proudly at Shade and she bowed in respect to her master and again at the rest of the teachers including General Robotnik before returning to her seat with pride.

"**Knuckles the Echidna,"** the announcer stated again.

Sonic and Shadow were sitting side by side both had been training hard for his day, both worked their hardest to improve their skills and physical power. Shadow has been watched very closely by General Robotnik and other high officials, all of which who have been watching his improvement with high interest. Everyone noticed it and honestly wasn't very surprised for Shadow is a very exceptional fighter for his young age.

Sonic on the other hand has also improved somewhat in the year but ever since his whole month of no growth he has been put on a list of students who may be purged…

The announcer has called up several more names before he gotten to the hedgehogs.

Sonic couldn't concentrate now, he knew he's gonna be promoted! He awaited this for such a long time now and his mind was locked into improvement mode. He wanted to get better, he wanted to get smarter, he wanted to become faster and guess what, he accomplished all it all! He strides for the best and he did the best he could.

"**Shadow the Hedgehog…"**

Shadow rose from his seat and walked with importance and his head up in pride as he approached the stage. On the stage every important figure smiled big interested smiles as they watched him approach. Shadow noticed this and held his head higher just a bit as his pride overflowed.

As Shadow stepped upon the stage the announcer began to speak again.

"**Level Elemental; your skills has improved exponentially within the few years you've been here. You have completely surpassed every goal and expectation of you. So we, Master Waizu and the school board including the great General Robotnik himself are promoting you to level ****Great****. Furthermore you will be attending private lessons soon to further develop your powers."**

Sonic and everyone within the dojo mouths could be heard hitting the floor. Not a sound was uttered as shock and awe asphyxiated everyone in the room; even Shadow himself.

Promoted STRAIGHT to level Great!? That is so rare; he's only 10 years old! Sonic's mom and dad were absolutely flabbergasted and had no words as they looked on to their adopted son with absolute awe. Sonic did too; he wanted to just do all types of somersaults from hearing that. His hearing must be off; his brother has General Robotnik as a personal advocate for him to promote straight to level Great. Only a few other students have ever done that, one of which lives in the neighboring land of Arch City, and a few select others in other lands.

Shadow basked in the glory while staring down his peers, something changed in him that day.

Shadow nodded to the announcer once he finished then bowed his head to every important figure until General Robotnik whispered something in his ear to which Shadow nodded in confirmation to. Shadow walked back to his seat with Sonic's astonished, emerald green eyes glued on him the whole way.

"No way dude, how did you get promoted to such a high level so young?" Sonic said in a hushed tone. Shadow just shrugged his shoulders but couldn't hide his proud smirk.

Sonic knew it was his turn next so he got excited again.

"**Memphiles the Hedgehog..."**

Sonic's heart sank straight through the beautiful oak floor below. _Wait, wait, he forgot me!_

Sonic started to sweat; he can feel the other students staring at him from all sides. Sonic kept his eyes straight as he felt the all too usual build up of heat in his face and embarrassed tears started to well up again. He fought with all his will to control his tears, he can't cry now, he have to stay strong, there's obviously a problem, an accident; yeah that's it! There's been an accident.

Although deep down he felt that that wasn't the case…

Sonic continued to listen to the rest of the ceremony with his hands gripping his legs that were crisscrossed. His muzzle and ears glowed with embarrassment and stress. His breathing grew short and shallow and heat and cold shivers racked his body. He wouldn't even dare look at Shadow now, he felt so insignificant beside him now.

The announcer called out at least 20 more progressing students before it was all over, much to Sonic's dismay. Sonic can't stand it anymore, he wanted to cry- one of the most important life events for him as a child was a total bust, he was suppose to advance, was all that "improvement" for nothing?

The announcer shuffled his index cards into a nice stack on his podium and then put them into a box and then into a carrying case. Master Waizu looked out into the large crowd of students and teachers and officials alike with a wise smile. He slowly made his way to the podium just as the announcer was about to dismiss everyone. He stood in front of the microphone; much to everyone's surprise and stared straight at Sonic.

"**Sonic the Hedgehog, no, don't stand up…Today you will not be receiving a promotion to the next level, but I do want to congratulate you for all your efforts to become a better student. Maybe next year this time you'll promote to the next level. **

**Your efforts was good, Sonic, but they were not good enough."**

As Master finished his comment everyone's attention was drawn to the young, blue hedgehog that sat in the 3rd row to the stage. Sonic kept a proud face although he wanted, so badly, to run out of the dojo and never come back. He hesitantly and sheepishly nodded his head in acknowledgement. His peach colored cheeks were burning red right now; threatening to change the color of the surrounding blue fur to red also. He breathed deeply and shakily as if he was holding down the sheer sobs that wanted to come out.

After the ceremony teachers, officials and General Robotnik himself walked around to talk to the students and parents exchanging information and suggestions. Sonic sat alone in the corner with his knees up to his chest with an absolutely disgruntled, resenting look upon his face. Sonic looked at his brother being praised exclusively by General Robotnik and other officials that surrounded his brother and parents, all of whom were expressing their pride to their highly accomplished son. Sonic glared at them through red, envious eyes; red for he was crying previously.

No matter how much he worked for something it always seemed as though he was always out of reach of his goals. However, he has a whole year to pull up his grades, his fighting skills and mental and physical coefficient. He just has to work harder than before, besides he has Shadow to help him out and train him. At that thought he felt a sense of hope again, and wiped his eyes and let out a tiny smile.

Shadow was smiling up at General Robotnik and nodding his head as the leader of the great land was telling him some information; Sonic couldn't hear since he was so far away. Shadow turned his head towards his mother as she started talking and rested a hand on Shadow's shoulder as did his father. Shadow smiled gingerly then he turned his head straight to Sonic and shot a smug smile towards him. Sonic didn't know why, but his ears slowly drooped lower on his head and he turned away.

**/-/-/ Elsewhere a few hours later in a secluded room /-/-/**

"How is the progress to infiltrate Arch City going? Are we coming to a resolution?" General Robotnik's commanding voice rang out as he entered to what looks like a War strategy room.

There was a large, flat glass table that projected a 3d holographic map of the massive land that consists of Arch City, Mobius, and Rodzaj- each fiercely strong and a force to be reckoned with.

One thing though; each leader of the massive lands are all brothers and they all are, to some extent, power hungry leaders. General Robotnik is the military leader of Mobius, General Nega is the military leader of Arch City; General Nega is arguably the smartest of the three and is in the middle of the power hungry spectrum of the three brothers. General Robotnik takes up the extreme side while the third brother, General Kintobor took up the other far side of the spectrum meaning he was the most peaceful out of the three.

In the room there were government military officials standing stiffly in their decorated uniforms looming over the large hologram projection table. The officials were talking about their secret infiltration project that they were planning to do. General Robotnik stood at the head of the table and grasped the sides of the table as he looked at the map of Arch City.

One official raised his head from looking at the map and looked towards their General, the official's name is Lt. Marshal the Raccoon. "Sir, I think that it would be quite beneficiary to us for the infiltration to be done by a couple of our highest ranking Extraordinary Students of spying and stealth to carry out the mission to sneak into Arch City, gather information and sabotage their key resources." A couple of officials nodded their head in agreement to Lt. Marshal's notion.

"Shadow and Shade; those are the students you're referring to right?" Another official beside Lt. Marshal spoke up, his name is Major Miles.

"Indeed, they scored the highest in multiple fields for being Elemental Level students." Lt. Marshal replied back.

From across the table another official spoke up. "Yes, and with a few more years of close guidance they'll be ready to perform the mission. We should host some extracurricular activities for the Extraordinary Students from both Arch City and Rodzaj to come to Mobius to compete in some rudimentary tests and fighting skills from the Elementals to the Greats to gain some trust and companionship. Then when the chance is right we can actually infiltrate not only Arch City, but Rodzaj as well." A quite beautiful Cheetah with a foreign accent spoke up, her notion carried well in the room for all the officials and even General Robotnik nodded in agreement and satisfaction.

Beside her another female official, a short tiger, turned to her. "That is an absolutely ambitious plan you have, Captain Azulus. I'm afraid that that's gonna take even more years of planning and trust gathering for the rival cities to hold even the slightest suspicion that we had children imported into their land to act as spies and cause silent detriment to them." The short tiger spoke her worries about Captain Azulus plan.

General Robotnik stared in thought at the two females then he rubbed his famously bushy mustache. He smirked and looked around the table. "Come on guys! You guys just lost face to these ladies, why can't you think of great ideas like that." The guys frowned then narrowed their eyes at the two ladies that are now smiling triumphantly. "That's that plan I want to go with, let's initiate the plan Captain Azulus motioned." General Robotnik is smiling evilly since he now has a diabolical plan to take over his brother's massive cities.

Just as the now jubilant Robotnik was about to take his leave he looked around the table once more. "I expect Shadow and shade to be ready to carry out this plan without a hiccup by the time he's 18; Shade too. I have an important find to make; you fools ever heard of the Chaos Emeralds?" General Robotnik said with a large toothy grin spread across his face.

Robotnik was greeted with wide eyes as each official looked at him with shock.

Captain Azulus blinked, "Sir… The powerful artifacts…?"

Beside her the short female tiger official covered her mouth thinking what everyone else was thinking in the room.

"Sir, are you planning to do what I think you're planning to do?" Lt. Marshal called out nervously.

"Why of course!" General Robotnik said still smiling, obviously still happy that a totally evil plan is in progress.

The majorly mustachioed general opened the heavy, metal door to the room he looked back with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "Shadow is to become infused with the chaos emerald's power." And with that the general left the room with a hearty chuckle.

The rest of the officials that were left made a worried face; anything can go wrong with the procedure of infusing the chaos emerald's power into a body. The body can either accept it or the body will reject it. Although both are very painful possible outcomes the latter is plainly direr as it can lead to death.

The direr outcome has happened to the best of solders in the past, usually after they spent a large amount of energy or if the energy is being withheld for a long periods of time. This had happened to Sonic's father, Jules Hedgehog, when Mobius was with war many, many years ago with a once neighboring nation named Zoe. Jules was on the frontlines of the battlefield and had transformed into his super form which was a very risky move. Super forms are heavily controversial because the bearer of the emeralds becomes so powerful that they could possibly ruin and destroy a whole nation by themselves. The super forms is highly unstable and since Jules went on a total tear on the nation of Zoe he tapped in so much power that his body couldn't bear it and he **exploded** in midair as he was flying to attack the capital.

That is why Jules is now a robot… he had to be fully robotisized; it was his only hope of survival.

So, for the sake of Shadow the procedure have better work for him, hopefully his body will accept the chaotic powers. Or it will be lights out for him for sure. The officials shared a grim look for a second before they all exited the room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, I know this is really unprofessional, and weird, and stuff, but I am gonna up everyone's ages. Sonic is now 15. I figured the way I'm writing this story that that will make everything make more sense. So recap, Sonic is 15, Shadow is 16. Is that too weird? Did I f*** up? Please let me know in the review section please.**

**Nothing else changed about the story, just the ages so, yeah.**

**On to the story!**

**-Caiahh Killroze**

***** About 2 years after the ceremony, June*****

_Being retained isn't all bad, at least I have a chance to refresh my skills and my mind of all the busy work I been doing in my normal classes. Although the teasing never stops now by the Median level kids I grew up with. They're always going on about how much I suck at martial arts and how much of a dunce I am. But whatever-, a lot of new students have been admitted into the classes now and they all seem cool. Hehe, good thing I can beat them all though_. Sonic snickers to himself as he walked down the large hallways of the main school building towards the dojo which is located about a few blocks away.

The long passageways that connected the main buildings together were full of tall, marvelous windows that let in the warm, soft rays of the sun. Sonic looked outside at a whole class of Great level students that were going outside towards the fields to test their abilities. Seeing this stirred excitement inside of him, he desperately wanted to show off his extreme speed to everyone; he wanted to show off and prove to everyone how much he had improved over the last few months._ Hopefully I'll get that chance soon._

Sonic pushed open a double door to head outside. It was super hot out; thankfully there were a breeze that aided in cooling what the intense sunlight warmed. Although it was steamy hot it was nice out. There were elegant Solar Flair flowers that were blooming from the beautiful Rhododendron bushes that lined the steep concrete stairs; butterflies and birds flew around the lovely flowers pollinating the bushes, and not too far off he could smell the smell of freshly cut grass; today is gonna be a good day.

Once the worn down soles of Sonic's shoes hit the bottom of the concrete stairs he blasted down the sidewalk. The wind rushed into his ears and his eyes slightly watered as he sped up even faster. He blazed through an intersection startling a crowd of pedestrians and causing a couple of cars to stomp on brakes. Sonic laughed mischievously then narrowing his eyes as he tried to push past his current speed limit; although his super speed was absolutely terrible for his shoes he didn't care and sped along anyways.

Sonic sped through a neighborhood for a short-cut and dodged the pedestrians and vehicles that were driving through. "Man! I love being fast!" Sonic hollered as he bored down the steaming hot asphalt roads almost hitting his current top speed of 430 miles per hour until his feet felt terribly hot.

"Ahh!" Sonic screamed as he felt molten rubber scorch against his soles and he jumped into the air holding his feet, still going terribly fast. He should have looked where he jumped because there was a tree waiting for him in the air. "Oh noooo!" Sonic said as he slammed into the branches. On his way down he hit a couple of more branches before falling out the tree with a heavy thud.

"Owww… that's gonna leave more than a mark…" Sonic groaned before sitting up and looking down at his feet and gasping in surprise as the cloth parts of his sneakers was smothering with fire. He hastily patted the embers out then realized that his soles were getting a breeze. "Whaa?"

Sonic lifted one of his sore feet towards him and looked astonished as his soles was completely off, bits of it was stuck to his foot; he just flicked those pieces off. Sonic looked behind himself to see two molten soles of his shoes that had fused to the hot asphalt.

The young speedster shook his head in disbelief and shook off his shoes then continued down the sidewalk with his officially destroyed shoes over his shoulder with the strings tied together. _Well this sucks…_ Sonic complained internally as he continued walking along the sidewalk with his feet burning; he crossed the street then walked behind another neighborhood where there was grass so his poor feet can have a break.

Slowly as he walked he could hear some commotion coming from behind two houses that made his ears prick up to tune in. The sounds were soft from where he was but none the less audible. "H-Hey stop! Stop, please! Please!" cried a pitiful, young voice; Sonic couldn't tell if it was from a boy or girl. The sobs and cries were followed by snickers and laughter of older sounding kids.

Sonic went on full alert now and quickly yet silently crept towards the two houses.

"No- I'll do anything- Oof!" there was coughing following those words and verbose wheezing.

"All of ya freaks need to die! Always thinking you guys are better than the rest of us, huh; I'll teach ya!"

"Yeah! You so smart in class but looks like you're not smart enough to get out of an ass whooping!" another male voice sneered, his remark was followed by laughter from two other voices and a whimpering of the pitiful voiced child.

"Oh stop sniveling you two tailed freak!" the pitiful whimpering suddenly stopped and soon after it was replaced with sounds of choking.

Sonic eyes went wide as he ran to behind the house where he was approaching the sounds from. He saw 3 teenagers that loomed over a younger child. One of the bullies, a teenage brown bear was holding up the child; a yellow fox, by the throat. The other bullies: a tiger and light-grey wolf was laughing and cheering their comrade on. The fox was breathing laboriously and had tears rolling down his furry cheeks. His eyes were eyes of fear.

This angered Sonic to the core.

"HEY! YOU BULLIES, LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Sonic threatened with his fist raised and teeth gritted.

The bear turned around with a sneer but kept his grip on the small fox's neck. "Who the hell are you?" The other boys stared at Sonic with similar sneers.

"I am Sonic the Hedgehog!" He pointed to his chest with his thumb. "And if you **punks **don't leave that little dude alone I promise that I am gonna beat you down!" And with a swift, dramatic movement Sonic pointed at them while gritting his teeth; anger fuming inside of him.

The bear chuckled and looked disbelievingly at Sonic then laughed while looking at his friends. "Come and try me shrimp-Oof!" The bear didn't get to finish his sentence as Sonic jumped towards him at high speed and clocked him right in the jaw. The bear dropped the young fox as he held his face and screamed in agony for a few seconds then snapped his head back at Sonic with anger smoldering in his small, beady eyes.

"YOU'RE **DEAD**, FREAK!" the bear screamed.

The agitated bear and his comrades jumped towards Sonic which the blue speedster retaliated by jumping back instinctively then zipping to the right making the wolf trip. The bear was on him as quickly as he moved and barely dodged the bear's long claws. When the bear missed Sonic then threw a hard right that knocked the bear's head the left and knocked him off balance. Sonic was about to hit him again but the tiger jumped on his back trying to take him down. Thinking quickly Sonic rolled into a ball and crushed the tiger under him making his attacker to lose his breath.

When Sonic got up his smirk wiped clean from his face as the bear was on him in the second. The bear punched him in the jaw hard making Sonic taste blood, but before Sonic could do anything the bear grabbed his head and gave him a nasty head butt.

"AHH!" Sonic screamed out as his forehead erupted with pain_. These guys don't use martial arts at all, they are just fighting ruthless and it seems like the martial arts I'm using against them aren't really hurting them as much as THAT blow did_.

Sonic fell backwards and shook his head quickly to get rid of the bleariness that clouded his eyes. Before he knew it a nasty kick to the stomach made him fold like a napkin. Sonic hit the ground hard, holding his stomach and trying desperately to breathe, all the while the bullies started to beat him down with hard stomps and mean kicks.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" he heard the little dude's voice, Sonic peeked open an eye to see the little fox running towards the bullies and then latching onto the tiger's back and pummeling him on the head. The fox didn't quit until the Wolf helped his bully friend and grabbed the little fox by his tails and threw him to the ground.

Sonic saw an opening and rolled out of the bully's way and then getting up; turning on his heel to face the bear again. Sonic thought about their fighting and his fighting, since his fighting wasn't working as well… Sonic narrowed his eyes and threw a mean right hook at the bear. Although the attack left him wide open for a blow Sonic followed through with the punch as they did to him; throwing his whole weight into it and hitting hard.

CRACK!

The bear reared back and hollered with pain as Sonic's fist connected with the bear's nose. The bear fell back onto his back and continued to curse and cuss and holler as he held his nose. Blood spewed from his muzzle; his nose was broken! Sonic looked at his blood-speckled fist with a cocky smirk then stared challengingly at the other bullies that were looking back from their friend that lay on the dry grass in pain then back at the blue hedgehog that just took him down.

"You want some of this too!?" Sonic shouted at them, his blood boiling, his pain ebbing away as adrenaline ran through his body. Sonic felt good about himself right now, a cocky smile just spread over his face as the bullies gathered up their friend and walked away. But not before shouting out a flurry curses and insults. Sonic put up his middle finger at the bullies and then turned back to the little fox that was now picking himself off the ground.

"Hey, bro, you're gonna be alright now. I'm sure those dipsticks won't be messing with you anymore!" Sonic said confidently, smiling, he approached the fox and stuck his hand out that wasn't speckled with blood.

"I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, what's your name, kiddo?"

The fox looked up at him hesitantly for a second before returning Sonic's smile. "My name is Miles Prower, but you can call me Tails, if you like! Thank you for helping me out." Tails said sincerely. Sonic and Tails shook hands and before Sonic could say anything else Sonic remembered that he had class at the dojo that he was probably late to now.

"Good to meet you Tai- WOAH!" Sonic held his head in disbelief and panic. "I'm gonna be late!"

"Late? Late where?" Tails questions him.

"The dojo! Ahh man, I have a class that starts in," Sonic looked down onto his watch, "30 seconds. This is supposed to be my year where I don't mess up!" Sonic whined as he picked up his shoes off the ground and inspected them. "Ugh, I can't run in these…" Sonic said to himself then turning around and in shock his jaw dropped as stared up at Tails.

"Du-dude… You're flying?" He saw the blur behind him and concluded that he was using his twin tails to fly. _How is that even possible?_

"Come on! I'll take you there!" Tails said with a serious face as he hovered over towards him. "Give me your hands Sonic."

Sonic complied and within the second Tails had him airborne. Tails flew as fast as he could towards the dojo, flying over the trees and the houses and the cars. Sonic was astonished and couldn't control his grin. _This is so freaking rad!_"Tails! This is awesome! How long have you been able to do this?"

"Since I was small!" Tails replied, then with a blush he asked, "S-so you actually think this is pretty cool?"

"Yeah! This is great!" Sonic said, kicking his feet. "Woooooo hooooo!" He kicked his feet some more, fully showing Tails how fun this was.

"You don't think me having two tails is weird?" Tails asked again.

"Weird? No! This is the coolest thing I ever seen! I wish I could fly!"

Tails' small smile grew larger as his confidence and self esteem started to sky rocket. Tails had a wonderful feeling that grew within his soul. He finally did it, he read about it in books and researched it watching others but, never had he ever, had a true friend- Sonic; friend- Tails' first friend! Tails giggled with euphoria as he did his best to fly even faster towards the dojo.

Sonic looked down and saw that the dojo's doors were still open. _I must have a little bit time left._ "I'm jumping off; Thanks Tails!" Sonic thanked him for the ride and let go of Tails as he pulled off a series of flips before hitting the ground. He tossed his torn up shoes into the trashcan that sat nearby then dashed into the dojo at breakneck speeds. Tails mouth was wide in awe. _That was so cool!_

Tails lowered himself to the ground until he reached the wooden steps of the beautiful, traditional styled dojo. He looked around before sitting down on the steps and taking a small notepad out of his book bag. He looked thoughtfully at the pad then towards the trashcan Sonic threw his shoes in.

_Hmmmmmmmm…_

**/-/Inside the Dojo /-/**

Sonic burst in through the beautiful, all wooden and stone vestibule of the dojo then through another set of doors to where the actual training room was located. Once he entered Master Waizu was just about to start announcements. The elder monkey looked towards Sonic with a frown and motioned him to join the other students. "A couple more seconds and you would have been late, Sonic. You need to be more punctual." He then turned back towards the rest of the students that were sitting on small cushions on the glossy hardwood floor before him.

"Attention everyone; Sonic, General Robotnik, and General Nega from Arch City has arranged a series of exhibition matches for candidates of the Extraordinary Students. Starting Saturday at 12 o'clock sharp, at the outside training grounds of our very own school, students from Arch City will come to prove that they are strong- you, including the median and great class students will be fighting against them to prove that you are **stronger**."

Multiple students around Sonic began to get very excited and some even started to express their exhilaration with whooping and cheering. Master smiled a small smile of satisfaction before he calmed them all down again. "You are to only fight the same class level you're in, for if you try to fight another class level you'll be without a doubt beaten." He looked around for a second then continued. "The fighting will be divided into Martial arts only, physical competitions such as benching, fastest mile, fastest 100 miles, and top speed as well as other events that will test other abilities. Oh and there will be a no barred martial arts that will include power using. We only have Silver and Memphiles that fits that bill so I don't want any of you children to try to enter that event."

Sonic looked around him and saw his own excited face being mirrored as other students around him was as ready as he was. That mean tomorrow at 12 he will get the chance to actually prove himself. Finally he'll get some acknowledgement around here; Shadow won't be the only star child of his family. Sonic clinched his fist in determination; he will be the best! He will _have_to be the best.

After the announcements Master Waizu initiated another practice bout for the Elemental class students. Sonic won 4 out of 5 serious bouts this week which is a great improvement for him, and Master Waizu took note of it and gave him a nod of approval. Sonic trained hard for the next hour until it was time to go home.

Sonic said goodbye to his friends and was about to leave and go home until a wrinkled hand gripped his shoulder from behind. Sonic looked up over his shoulder in question and there was Master Waizu staring wisely down at him. Master tilted his head towards his personal office and Sonic nodded, heading over there himself while Master talked to a few students.

Sonic opened the bamboo shōji to the right that opened up into the lavish, wide room that was Master's personal office. The floors were the same glossy hardwood that were the floor of the training room, the lightening came from beautiful lanterns that had some type of weird characters, Sonic presumed that they were Japanese characters, he heard Master talking about it when he exchanged stories about when he was growing up. Sonic's nose was attacked by incense that burned in shiny, metal incense holders that hung from the ceiling. And finally there was a single large and low sitting table on the floor that had a very pricy tea cups and a single lavish kettle sitting in the center.

Overall the room had a very homey feeling that calmed Sonic to the point that he wanna pull up a lounge couch and take a nap. After a few seconds Master stepped in and closed the paper door. He smiled at Sonic then went to the table and sat down behind it, facing Sonic; the latter took this as a queue and sat down as well. Master poured Sonic a cup of tea, then himself and took a nice sip before placing his cup down onto the table.

"You've really improved within the past couple of years, Sonic." Master said with seriousness.

"Thank you Master, I had a pretty cool teacher." Sonic said with a smirk to which Master smiled genuinely.

"That you have. Although your math skills still need a bit more work, your science studies are really doing well; physics seems to be your forte. Even your reading comprehension skills are really doing better." Master praised his pupil, "I'd even say that you're ready for promotion, but that isn't fully up to me; the officials have to see that you improved." Master looked at Sonic wisely then continued.

"Are you considering competing in the Mobius vs. Arch City Extraordinary School exhibitions?" Master said then sipping from his cup.

Sonic smirked and his eyes lit up, "Of course I am! I uh- I mean, yes Master, I have considered it."

"Good, that'll be your ticket to promotion." Master said simply then sipping his tea again.

Sonic's eyes beamed; _this is it, my chance, this is really my chance to prove everyone! Promotion here I come! Those Arch City kids better watch out!_ Sonic clinched his fists with determination. "I'm ready to show them all my worth!" Sonic said with a smile.

"Good, don't disappoint me Sonic; I expect you to be showing off your stuff at the exhibitions tomorrow." Master said to him, pointing to him with a wise look upon his face.

"I won't, I promise!" Sonic said with utmost confidence. After Master dismissed Sonic the blue hedgehog bowed slightly to him then exited the room. Sonic opened up the heavy all oak doors, and saw Tails sitting on the bottom step of the concrete stairs!? Sonic's eyes went wide as he saw the yellow fox,_ Was he waiting for me the whole time?_

"Tails? What are you doing here?" Sonic asked, joining him at the bottom step, he saw his shoes was on the left side of Tails, this made Sonic a confused and he scratched his head.

The young fox looked shocked at first when seeing him, "I was waiting for you…" he said sheepishly, he put his pad and pencil down beside him and he laid one of his tails on it to conceal it.

"Oh, that's cool, whatcha got there?" Sonic asked, pointing at the notepad he just hid.

"Oh, uh... just homework…" Tails quickly lifted his tail then put the pad and pencil in his book bag. "So you're one of those Extraordinary Students, huh?" Tails inquired.

"Yeap! One day I'm going to be the best!" Sonic declared as he jumped off the last step of the concrete stairs. "Are you a student? How old are you anyways?" Sonic said now starting to walk down the path.

Tails jumped off the step as well and quickly following him, putting Sonic's battered up shoes into his bag as well. "I didn't want to become an Extraordinary Student; fighting isn't really my thing, so I'm just a regular student. I go to Robotnik High School, I'm 8-"

Sonic stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face Tails with a huge shocked look on his face. "HIGH SCHOOL!? You look like you're just in starting middle school!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Yeah, I am particularly gifted in smarts." Tails said kind of sheepishly, he didn't really like boasting about his vast intellect. "I read my first book just months after being born, built my first model airplane at 3, passed 5th grade level tests and exams by 4 and by the end of this year I should be getting ready to start college courses." Tails said, still scratching the back of his head shyly. Hopefully Sonic didn't think he was too weird…

Sonic couldn't believe his ears. He looked at Tails with utmost astonishment then shook his head. "You are the coolest kid I ever met, Tails." Sonic started walking again with Tails by his side, beaming brightly.

"Soooo, what was that about earlier; you know, with the bullies and stuff…" Sonic and Tails was walking across the street into the neighborhood that Sonic had found Tails, the sun was about to drop down into the land; it's about 6:45.

Tails thought for a second, and frowned. "Those were my classmates. I guess they didn't like how I have two tails or something... they keep calling me a freak and picking on me about my knowledge saying it's worthless and what not." Tails said sadly, his ears drooping a little.

Sonic thought for a second. "What idiots." Sonic shook his head then smiled at his new little friend, "I smarts are nothing to laugh at, that is what makes everything and all things happen; a thought; smarts and intelligence. And for those guys that say that your smarts are no good; ignore that! All you have to do is keep proving to yourself that you're freaking amazing! Shoot, maybe one day you'll build something so incredible no one can ignore it!" Sonic said to him, dramatically moving his hands around as he talked.

"You really think so, Sonic?" Tails looked up to him beaming, his sad tone and face melting away. Sonic grinned at him and threw thumbs up at him. "Of course I mean it buddy!" Sonic grinned wider and so did Tails; this is a wonderful start of a wonderful relationship.

The two pals talked and talked and talked about themselves and all the type of things they were into and how school was and the like. They talked until Sonic reached Tails' house to drop him off, they bid their farewells and Sonic told him if he wasn't busy that they should hangout before the games tomorrow. Tails accepted and so Sonic went off towards his house; surprisingly Tails lived not too far from him; just the neighborhood beside his small neighborhood. Sonic knew he was gonna get a scolding for destroying his shoes once again; maybe for the games tomorrow Shadow will let him use his spare pair of sneakers.

When Sonic got home he of course got the scolding, but was given Shadow's extra pair just as he hoped. But even though it got dark there was no sign of the ebony hedgehog. Sonic's mom and dad got worried and decided to call the school to find out where he is. Thankfully a nice woman had answered their call and told them that Shadow was in a special training program issued by General Robotnik; he will be there for the remainder of the night and he will be fed and taken care of. Sonic's parents; after asking a slew of questions were satisfied and relayed the message to Sonic himself.

Sonic told them all about today's events, highlighting the special event of Master Waizu had in his mind to promote him but he just have to show his worth at the games tomorrow; of which Sonic's mom and dad wished they could go and see their boys but sadly they will have to be absent from it for they had work. Sonic understood but throughout the night he couldn't wait; mind and body at unrest, he was so excited for the games tomorrow. He can't wait for the general and all of the officials to witness his speed; they had before when he was younger, but tomorrow he will just have to ruin another pair of shoes because he is gonna rip up the asphalt with his speed.

Sonic eventually fell asleep and dreamed all about the games tomorrow, all the excitement and happiness incubating inside his dreams; growing into a massive party of euphoria and happiness high; Sonic is so ready for this. He has to be, tomorrow will be his chance.

Time to shine hedgehog.

/-/-/**Somewhere unknown**/-/-/

Doctors and other figures in sterile white and green medical scrubs walked around briskly picking tools from drawers and placing them beside a shiny, metal plate beside a long, flat stretcher. Shadow lay in that stretcher, arms and legs and chest bounded by leather straps.

The room that Shadow was in contained many different machines and tools that sat on the far walls on his left and right, nothing was near him though, Shadow found that quite peculiar. On the far wall in front of him there was a large, single pane glass window and inside it he can see General Robotnik, and a few other officials staring down at him, they was talking about something but Shadow couldn't hear it.

The walls were white and bare with some metal tubes coming from vents on the ceiling. There was a large circle on the floor with 7 smaller circles around it, Shadow wondered what those were for but looking at his current situation, he can suggest that it has something to deal with him.

General Robotnik and the other officials told him that this is an extracurricular program for him and he is to be rewarded handsomely for it. Something told him that something isn't right; the way he was strapped down like this…

The doctors and other scrub wearing officials in the large room stopped moving as they came into a group; they looked up at the sizable window above where General Robotnik and some high ranking officials were standing. Shadow can see the General Robotnik talking to his subordinates beside him to his right. He then returned his eyes back in front of him then he put his hand up as a sign for the doctors. The doctors nodded then began to exit the room except for one female nurse; a pretty lioness.

The attractive lioness walked over to Shadow and bent over by his head so that they were eye to eye. He stared at her, he wanted answers, and he was starting to become impatient. The female nurse smiled then put a comforting hand on his shoulder, using her thumb to slightly stroke Shadow's neck. "Shadow, in the events following my departure I want you to stay strong." Shadow's mouth moved as though he was about to say something but she interrupted. "Don't ask any questions, you're going to be perfectly fine when this is all over, you may feel a bit of pain but soon it will fade away. Do not have any fear; this is to make you harder to defeat, better than the rest, faster than anything, and the strongest you can possibly be. Do not fret; think of this as a training exercise. Good luck, Shadow." She said calmly and smoothly, her suave voice making him feel a bit better. But apprehension started to surmount when she left and he could hear actuators and switches activating.

The floor started to vibrate somewhat and he could feel _something_ coming; something alien to him; otherworldly; supernatural! Shadow shivered as this supernatural feeling wisped and flowed around him, filling the room with a weird pressure.

"H-Hey, what's going on?" His voice echoed in the room, he felt incredibly vulnerable about what was coming.

The vibration grew stronger, this time he could feel that it was coming from below him; directly under the strange circles on the ground. Eventually each individual of those circles split into 6 pieces and started to retract to reveal the artifacts beneath.

From the smaller circles came, firstly, seven strange diamond shaped jewels that radiated with intense pressure; power. Shadow could feel himself catching some of the vibes coming out of them; the vibes were untamed and ruthless. Shadow eyes opened wide in shock and started to protest, he was afraid. "H-hey! Get me out of here! What are those, why do they make me feel this way!?" But of course his cries went on unnoticed.

Exponentially the pressure in the room evolved to even more massive proportions as a herculean sized jewel of brilliant green lust slowly emerged out of the much bigger circle on the floor. Shadow stared wide eyed at it; his heart sped up with trepidation as he waited for the real event to happen. The reason why he is there strapped on this table and isn't being told of the real reason he is there must have a motive behind it; this jewel must be the reason. What type of training is this!? There was some ultimate goal to be made here by the officials; Robotnik…

"HEY! CAN YOU HEAR ME! HEY!" Shadow screamed again at the window where the officials stood stiffly.

Without warning the master emerald started to glow with the utmost brilliance, followed by the other smaller jewels shining as or more brilliant than its bigger counterpart. Slowly, the larger jewel started to rotate slowly which in turn prompted the smaller jewels to start to orbit the larger one, steadily getting faster and faster until the jewels were a mere hovering, white torus that radiated with intense, potent energy. Shadow struggled with all his might but to no avail, he can see the officials including General Robotnik staring down at them; Robotnik's eyes were full of anticipation and excitement while a few of the other officials had worry in their eyes. _What were they so worried about, I got to get out of here…!_

"Hey! LET ME OUT OF HERE!" Shadow screamed, and as if Shadow's voice was its cue the shining torus that surrounded the large jewel that is the smaller jewels instantly cut off their orbit and flew straight into him.

There was nothing but pain.

Shadow screamed and writhed as excruciating power and heat coursed through his body causing him to convulse powerfully. Sweat popped off his forehead as the pain grew exponentially. Tears of harrow streamed from his eyes and rivers of slobber fell from his lips. Shadow's screams filled the room as he fought against the power. He opened his eyes; they were blood shot, all he could see was the brilliant green jewel- _Master Emerald,_as if the power coursing through him was telling him about the actual name of the jewel. Shadow tried to fight back the power but it only left him exhausted and defeated as it seemed to have hit Shadow with a powerful blow of supernatural energy.

**_Don't fight chaos… let it reign; take control of you- become one with me; I am the Master Emerald. I am power. I am absolute. I am without parity._**

Shadow's eyes widen with fear and confusion as the power- the Master Emerald talked to him. He rebelliously fought against it again, unwilling to listen to the mysterious emerald. And once again Shadow was punished back; pain erupted inside of him, he could feel himself about to burst. Frothy foam became apparent on his trembling lips. His eyes twitched as his body recoiled, verbose cries erupted from the hedgehog.

**_Do not fight against me. Accept my power and become the most powerful being you could ever be. Don't you want to be the most powerful being you can ever be? I can read your wishes, child, I KNOW what you want._**

Shadow impulsively fought against it once more, his breaths faltering with each inhale. He screamed when the hexing pain sliced into him once more. He felt as though he was literally about to explode, his body started to bleed from everywhere; his eyes, ears, mouth, nose, all was starting to leak blood which scared Shadow to the core. He shook and convulsed again, he could feel fire in his belly which made him want to just curl up in die. Through each painful convulsion, his body jerked in unruly movements, and with each painful jerk he could feel something breaking his bones. As he screamed with the unbearable pain crushing him he could feel his eyes' integrity starting to become compromised.

Through hazy eyes Shadow looked pitifully up towards the large window pane which the officials stood behind. General Robotnik had a frown now, he slowly shook his head then said something to his subordinates before slowly turning away, walking off, with his aides in tow. Shadow had a different look in his eye now, not fear or confusion, but instead a strong feeling of being wanted, being accepted; that look they gave him- it scared him, it made him… feel… utter sadness.

_No… wait, don't leave- wait, please!_

Suddenly time slowed for him, he remembered back to when he was an orphan. The loneliness and the strong desire to be loved and accepted hit him like a sledgehammer to the heart. He didn't want to go back to that; he was tired of watching people looking at him disapprovingly, that's why he works himself so hard. He thought he was finally free of that when Mr. and Mrs. Hedgehog brought him in. But that look General Robotnik gave him, made him sadly reminisce back to the feelings he used to have- he wanted to be accepted, welcomed. That's why he has to be better! He has to get better! He has to get stronger!

**_Yes, that what you are feeling, you don't like that do you- let me help you, to help yourself. Help yourself by accepting me. Become one with me. Accept my gifts in return I hope that you don't stray from your path._**

Shadow, now on the edge of death, picked up his bloodied head and stared, with his blind eyes at the Master Emerald, "I ACCEPT YOU! I ACCEPT! I ACCEPT! I DO NOT WANT TO BE WEAK ANYMORE- MAKE ME GREAT!" Shadow wheezes then coughs up blood before continuing, "MAKE ME THE GREATEST I CAN BE! **I ACCEPT YOU, MASTER EMERALD, GRANT ME MY WISHES!**"

**_Very well, Shadow, I will grant you your wish._**

Immediately Shadow felt a different type of pain, almost a dull like sore pain that washed over his whole body. He could feel his body healing itself- no; the emeralds, healing him. His stomach was returning to its original state, he could feel his bones fusing back together. His skin and fur grew back together, and even the blood evaporated off of him. His eyes returned to its glossy shine, his irises as fiery as ever. His teeth was shiny and free from blood, his lungs healed back together- and in a few minutes he was totally healed, feeling nothing out of place.

But something didn't feel right…

His mind- it felt cloudy. As if something were covering up some information within him.

Suddenly the master emerald and the other smaller chaos emeralds began to go back down into the shafts where they rose out of the floor. The latches on his chest and arms and legs were undone and he felt a strong hand grasp his shoulder. Above him was General Robotnik, smiling a large, almost sadistic grin.

"You have done well my boy. Soon, you will be the strongest being alive- the ultimate life form." The General said, his smile growing somehow larger. "You are now Shadow, the ULTIMATE LIFE FORM! And you will bring every foe before you to their knees. And you will bring this country among the Gods. We, with you, will be undefeatable."

As the general was about to walk off he looked behind him at the ebony hedgehog that was now sitting up on the table, looking confused. "Oh, by the way Shadow, what's your brother's name?" The General Robotnik said slyly.

"What are you talking about?" Shadow said, genuinely confused.

"Perfect…" The mad general said under his breath while walking away, his raspy laughter ringing inside the large white room until he walked out.

Shadow's red eyes followed the General until he walked out of the room, his mind hazy and his confusion at an all time high.

_Who was that?_


End file.
